Even the most sane
person in Britain has to admit the Brexit vote will, in one shape or another,
affect the UK Property market. Excluding central London which is another world,
most commentators are saying prices will be affected by around 10%. So looking
at the commentators’ thoughts in more detail, property values in Grantham will
be 10% lower than they would have been if we hadn’t voted to leave the EU.
As the average
value of a property in the South Kesteven District Council area is £181,000,
this means property values are set to drop for the average Grantham property by
£18,100 … batten down the hatches .. soup kitchens and mega recession here we
come ..it’s going to get rough.
.. but before we all go into panic mode in Grantham .. the devil is always
in the detail
Look at the phrase
again, and I have highlighted the relevant part “Property values in Grantham
will be 10% lower than they would have been if we hadn’t voted to leave
the EU”
… and that’s the
point, we won’t see a house price crash in Grantham, it’s just that house
prices in a years time will be 5% lower than they are now (ie 5% less the 10% lower figure because of Brexit). Let’s look at
the historic figures and how that compares to today’s figures for the South
Kesteven District Council area and Grantham as a whole.
Average Value of a
property 20 years ago £ 47,800
Average Value of a
property 10 years ago £157,800
Average Value of a
property 2 years ago £164,300
Average Value of a
property 1 year ago £169,500
Average Value of a
property today £189,000
Projected Value of
a property in 12 months’ time £180,000
Therefore, I believe the
average value of a Grantham property will be £9,000 lower in 12 months’ time
than today.
That’s not to say Grantham
property prices might not dip slightly in the run up to Christmas (in fact they
always have done just about every year since the year 2000 and most of those
were boom years) .. but in 12 months time this is my considered opinion of
where Grantham property values will be.. and looking at the historic prices,
even if I (and many other property market commentators) are wrong and they drop
10% from TODAY’S figure .. in the whole scheme of things, we have been through
a Credit Crunch, Black Monday and 15% interest rates over the last 20 to 30 years
.. and still Grantham house prices have always bounced back.
Whilst the UK's vote for Brexit has created
an uncertainty in the Grantham housing market, there is no need to panic and
prospective buyers should merely use common sense about their purchases. I
always say to people to be prudent and if you are taking out a mortgage, at
some stage during the life of that mortgage, circumstances will be difficult. We won’t have a 2008 Credit
crunch fire sale of properties because after
the Mortgage Market Review which took place in the Spring of 2013, mortgage borrowers
are not as highly leveraged this time around. As a result of this, with
any luck there will not be too many distressed sales, which cause widespread
price reductions.
.. and Grantham landlords? They have
recently been thrashed by Osborne’s tax changes, but yields could rise if Grantham
house prices fall/stablise and rents grow, and this might also make it easier
to obtain mortgages, as the income would cover more of the interest cost. If
prices were to level or come down that could help Grantham landlords add to
their portfolio, as rental demand for Grantham property is expected to stay
strong as more people find it more and more difficult to obtain mortgages.
